Women's Hoops Heads To Northern Illinois In Search Of Coach Jack's 200th Career Victory
1/29/2016 12:00:00β―AM | Women's Basketball
BUFFALO, NY - Coming off a midweek bye, the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York women's basketball team travels to DeKalb, IL, to take on the Northern Illinois University Huskies, Saturday, Jan. 30 at 2 pm.
The Bulls, who are in the midst of a four-game losing streak, will look to turn things around against one of the top rebounding teams in the Mid-American Conference. The matchup versus the Huskies also marks the longest road trip of the MAC season with Buffalo and NIU the furthest east and west teams in the conference, respectively. The Bulls, who hosted the Huskies last season at Alumni Arena, will travel more than 600 miles to DeKalb. This is the only meeting between the two squads this season.
The midweek bye came at the right time in UB's season, allowing the Bulls to catch their breaths from a challenging MAC season schedule. Most recently they dropped a road game to Miami, Jan. 23, 69-58. Buffalo struggled to connect from the floor, shooting 19.4 percent in the first 20 minutes and 26.1 percent overall. Sparked by a 7-0 run in the third quarter, Buffalo took their first lead since 12 seconds into the contest, but Miami would take it back and hold on the rest of the way.
The Bulls had their best showing at the free throw line this season, going 18-for-21 as a team. Joanna Smith and Stephanie Reid missed just one free throw combined on 16 attempts. The defense forced 29 turnovers that turned into 20 points.
On Saturday, Buffalo will look to wrap up January with a win.
Smith and Reid Carry Offense
The junior and sophomore continue to up their play in the MAC season and the Bulls' offense relies heavily on their production. The two guards combined for 49 points in a loss versus Western Michigan and against Miami the duo, again, scored about two-thirds of the team's points.
In the loss to the RedHawks, Smith reached the 20-point plateau for the ninth time this season and seventh in the last nine games. She ranks second against MAC opponents scoring 21.1 points per game while shooting 40 percent from the floor.
The point guard Reid is the second Bull to average double figures against conference foes at 13.9 points on average. The Australian ranks second in the MAC dishing out five assists per game and eighth in 3-point field goal percent at 42.1 percent. Reid has reached double figure points in five straight games.
Both are counted on to fill the stat sheet besides just scoring points. Reid (2.3) and Smith (2.1) rank third and fourth, respectively, in the MAC in steals, and Smith ranks just shy of second on the team in rebounds per game (5.3).
Scouting the Huskies
Ally Lehman averages a double-double (and has registered 10 this season) with 12.3 points and 10.9 rebounds in MAC play. The 5-foot-10 guard ranks 11th in the country pulling down an average of 11.4 boards a game. NIU as a team sits 30th nationally with 43 rebounds per game. Kelly Smith is also scoring double-figures against the MAC at 11.6 points.
Tip-off is set for 2:00 pm Saturday in DeKalb, IL. Join me, Sloane Martin, for the pregame at 1:30 on ESPN 1520 and streaming online.
